


Halloween

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Voldemort's Halloween 1981 Attack on the Potter Family (Harry Potter), jily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28983381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What happens next happens in slow motion and at break-neck speed all at once. There is someone there. And then James is telling her to go, and he doesn’t have a wand and she cannot tell him she loves him one last time. His laughter still rings in her ears when she hears his body fall. Her heart stops. But somehow she keeps moving.She can’t find her wand to apparate, and the barriers surrounding the house would permit it anyways. The window is too high for her to jump from, and even if she survived, Harry probably would not.She looks down at Harry who is surprisingly quiet and as a last resort she runs to the nursery to barricade him in, because he is defenseless.But she is Harry’s defense, and she won’t let him die.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter





	1. Chapter 1

October 31, 1981 was always remembered as a sad day in the wizarding community. It was the day when Voldemort attacked the residence of James and Lily Potter, along with their son, Harry. They had gone into hiding months prior, when Dumbl;edore alerted them of a prophecy that they fit the margins of, and had been hiding in a small village known as Godric’s Hollow.  
Only few knew of this, a couple being Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Albus Dumbledore (obviously) and Peter Pettigrew. Sirius, Remus, and Peter undoubtedly knew, as they and James were practically brother’s with their level of friendship that had been reached over the past 7 years sharing a dorm at hogwarts.  
Anyways, back to Lily and James.  
What were they doing now, on the morning of Halloween you ask? They're probably cowering with all their lights off or closing their curtains. Let’s take a look, shall we? Ah yes, they were-  
Trying to transfigure a onesie into a pumpkin costume for Harry.  
“Lily, I swear this will work, just give me a second-  
“James, you’re good at transfigurations but you just can’t Make. One. Up!” Lily replies, waving her wand around animatedly at the orange onesie for emphasis.  
“Well do you have any better ideas Ms. Evan- Potter?” James asked, clearly still not used to his surname becoming hers.  
“Well there is a deer onesie in the closet upstairs, but I guess Harry could still be an orange blob…” Lily trails off, grinning, as James races up the stairs with a boy like glee, Harry in his arms.  
He’s singing an extremely off tune song as he stumbles back down the stairs, a cackling harry in his arms with a little deer hood hanging over his head.  
It’s Moondance. She knew that making him watch that absolutely horrible werewolf movie would lead to this, but it's definitely worth it as she joins in, laughing at her horrible off-berat add ons while he looks at her with a twinkle in his eyes, Harry babbling along as if he knew every lyric, which in turn makes Lily laugh even harder as they dance around the house with him.  
James manages to smile in spite of it all, in spite of the prophecy, in spite of fear, and in spite of Voldemort himself. Because to him, are you even living if you’re not smiling? If you’re not laughing, experiencing, enjoying yourself with people you love?  
So he smiles as he hears Lily’s angelic voice ring out through their house, even if she denies her talent. And he’s grabbing her hand and Harry’s while dragging them all throughout the house, their ginger kitten meowing at their heels.  
The kitten was a strange thing, as they found it breaking through their charms to meow at their window for some fish. After they determined it was in fact NOT an animagus, they took him in and named him affectionately “baby” per Harry’s first opinion on the orange cat.  
So in that moment with Baby at their heels while Lily has the biggest smile on her face and James is laughing along with Harry, they are okay. And they might not be okay in the next coming years, or months, or days, or even hours, but that doesn’t matter because they are together and they might be young but they’re in love and they are here.  
They have the ripe clementines and oranges growing from their backyard for breakfast, both reveling in the sweet taste of the fruits. Their original plan was to have bagels with cream cheese and scrambled eggs,but that plan failed as soon as the song was sung, the now burnt bagels too far gone to even begin to be thought about eating anymore.  
Lily is barely holding onto her resolve to wait until night time to eat their pre-bought candy from honey-dukes, essentially the reason for their clementine tree which seems to be the only one in the small family that’s enjoying it.  
So she laughs as James finds the stash on top of the fridge and the sound is like music to his ears while harry is already in the chocolate (evident by the milk chocolate spread around his face like a crime scene ((somehow there's some in his hair (((how???))) )) ). And James smiles and kisses the top of Lily’s head as a half-apology for the mess as she smiles back up at him, her green eyes full with happiness.  
Their little word might collapse at any moment as (not even) a man stalks to their house late at night but they're oblivious, and happy, and that is rare and so good.  
They owled Pete to come by today , which is a rare thing, because they have to continue switching owls almost daily if they want to send a letter at all, and because of this they had to push off responding to Sirius until tomorrow because they haven’t checked up on Peter in a while.  
Their relationship had gotten strained in their last year, as Peter became more reclusive and absent most nights in their dorms, and always choosing to stay at Hogwarts during their breaks, even when he was invited to the Potter’s or Lupin’s.  
It had gone opn when they got out, barely responding to their letters and almost never coming to their (almost weekly) meetups before James and Lily went into hiding at the Hollow. It hurt James a lot, he never really thought that these types of friendships could drop off in the way theirs did , and so suddenly too, after the 7 years of them being together, of them being “The Marauders”.  
Regardless, James is shocked as Peter comes in.  
He’s thinner for sure, with dark eyebags and incredibly shaky hands which he tries to conceal in his oversized jumper that James faintly remembers giving him at Christmas last year. His face is ashen, and James thinks of what to do while his friend’s eyes dart nervously around their living room as Lily makes tea in the kitchen.  
“This war will never end.” He starts, once he was given the warm tea that he grips onto too harshly for someone who wants to drink it.  
His words are nothing but barely breaths on his lips, and you would only hear them if you were close enough to hear the finality, the wavers in Pete’s voice as he said it, accompanied with a fear as well as a deep understanding that James has never heard from him before, and he’s not sure that he ever wanted him to. He can feel himself being afraid in that moment for his friend that’s shaking in front of him, the happiness from earlies completely shattered.  
James doesn’t really know the fear that Peter is really experiencing, the guilt, the betrayal, the raw panic that’s coursing through his veins, his blood. He doesn’t know why his breaths are ragged and why he’s trembling like a leaf as he paces their living room, why his good friend isn’t good anymore.  
Even Lily’s endless reassurances that could calm the angriest of men, the most fearful, fall like words on a deaf man’s ears.  
The finality in her voice as she tells Peter that it will end, and there’s still hope, there’s always hope, is enough to make James think that they can get out of this alive. Because that’s who Lily is .  
“Someday it will, I promise.”  
She doesn’t know that her promise isn’t a match against fear. The fear still wins.  
Fear will always win.  
Peter leaves, his skin slightly closer to its normal complexion. Lily grips James’ hand as they watch him leave through the front window, watching him stalk down the street before apparating out of sight with a sickening crack that makes James wince with Lily at his side.

-

“ He’s gonna be okay, Pete’s gonna be ok” Lily repeats, almost as a mantra to herself, a reassurance. James’ nods absentmindedly, squeezing her hand tighter as they look out into the street, sun shining above them. They stay like that for a while, hands entangling as James lays his head on Lily’s, their heartbeats at the same pace. Together, connected by love, one combined.

Soon, that combined heartbeat will stop, their synced breaths will stagger and come to an end. And currency they’re being closed in on by him, but that doesn’t mean the world is stopping for them.

So they continue.

Dinner is a somber affair, Harry being the only one to lighten up the mood after the event with Pete today. Lily has mostly moved on, but James is still thinking about it, about what could make Peter so scared.

Peter was probably the one who got scared the most when they were in school, but when it came down to it he always had a level head regarding whatever matter was at hand, but that wasn’t what happened today.

Today, Peter could barely form a coherent sentence after his first, stumbling and stuttering over his words as if they were 11 years old again, talking over each other on the Hogwarts Express.

He thought that there were some similarities between the experiences. They were going into a completely different world with news things to learn, to experience.

But there was a difference this time.

He had his friends with him.

(Did he?)

After dinner Lily goes upstairs with Harry at her hip, bouncing him up and down as he laughs along with her, both making their way to the couples bedroom. For some reason James didn’t want Harry out of their sight, and Lily couldn’t help but agree.

Something was off tonight.

So he followed along to their bedroom, not caring that he left his wand at the sink after putting away the dishes, it wouldn’t be needed, he thought.

(Oh how wrong he was).

But he borrows Lily’s for the moment, and produces wisps of smoke and eventually his patronus to Harry, and they both have the biggest smile while Lily is watching amused, close to his side under the warm blankets while harry is at the front of the bed, mesmerized by the stag in front of him who is so lifelike, so real.

These are the moments that they both cherish, and will remember and annoyingly remind Harry every time he’s around his friends.

Because that’s what parents do.

(They never got the chance.)

What happens in the next hour flashes by while being burned into James’ memory at the same time.

He faintly hears a gate creak open, but he must be mistaken, their Fidelus Charm is impenetrable.

James got up anyway, reassuring Lily that it was nothing that was important and just to relax with Harry.

As he walked down the stairs, he realized that it was in fact important, and he felt his voice go hoarse with how loud he shouted for Lily to Get out of there, Get out of there with Harry NOW.

He didn’t have his wand, but he wasn’t letting Harry die.

He wasn’t.

Less than a minute later, James Potter fell, like a marionette whose strings had been forcefully cut, collapsing on the carpeted stairs while his glasses fell off, cracked.

Voldemort heard Lily, screaming from the upper floor, but he had nothing to fear.

Lily faintly remembered that she didn’t tell him that she loved him before she left, and tears sprang to her eyes as her heart stopped with him, but she had to keep moving. For Harry.

She won’t let him die.

What happens next happens in slow motion and at break-neck speed all at once. There is someone there. And then James is telling her to go, and he doesn’t have a wand and she cannot tell him she loves him one last time. His laughter still rings in her ears when she hears his body fall. Her heart stops. But somehow she keeps moving.  
She can’t find her wand to apparate, and the barriers surrounding the house would permit it anyways. The window is too high for her to jump from, and even if she survived, harry probably would not.  
She looks down at Harry who is surprisingly quiet and as a last resort she runs to the nursery to barricade him in , because he is defenseless.  
But she is Harry’s defense, and she won’t let him die.  
So she stands tall, and places Harry in the crib behind her as she faces the door, wandless, arms spread wide to cover his crib.  
He appears, and it takes everything in her not to break right then, but she stays together. And as she’s hit with a curse, she stays together, by thinking of Harry, of James, of them together, as a family. Together, the only thing they managed to keep.  
She realizes now, why Peter was so shaky. He was the one who did this, betrayed them.  
But her thoughts are on Harry now, and it’s all she can do to hope he can make it through.


	2. Epilogue

James and Lily hadn’t checked in with Sirius since two days prior, and he was worried. Ever since the attack on a local town bordering Godric’s Hollow, they had all been on their toes, which had pushed them to change the secret keeper to Peter.

It had been Sirius, really, because in his words, “People know that i’m your best friend, it’s too bloody predictable!” Whatever the reason, they agreed, and that’s how Peter was changed to the secret keeper two days before tonight.

Sirius apparate to Godric’s Hollow with a resounding crack, shivering from the cold as he strolled past the cemetery. 

He saw the house in the distance, and smiled as he saw smoke rising from the chimne- wait, that’s not right. 

They didn’t have a chimney.

He picked up his pace as his view of the house became clearer, and broke into a sprint as it did. Sirius didn’t care anymore about looking suspicious, because smoke was rising from the house and part of the roof had collapsed in and oh god, the part of the roof that collapsed is harry’s.

He thought he could hear a loud crack as he burst in through the front door, but he wasn’t sure. He heard movement upstairs, and drew his wand out on instinct.

They could still be alive. They could still be upstairs.

Sirius hastily walked past (and bumped into) what he thought was an umbrella stand, and saw James’ wand on the bookshelf at the end of the hallway, but couldn’t see James.

He made his way up the stairs in a haze, and winced as his foot ran into something.

Sirius looked down.

He wished he hadn’t.

Sirius had discovered the dead before. He had walked into Marlene McKinnon’s home on that fateful night in July with Remus. He saw as they brought Dorcas in. Hell, he carried Fabian into the safehouse when he died.

But for some reason, he never expected to be coming upon James in this way, lying on the staircase, his cracked glasses laying beside his head.

Why didn’t he have his wand with him? He could practically hear Moody's voice in his ears now, lecturing them about “constant vigilance!”.

This is where bloody vigilance got them.

He put out a shaky hand to get James’ glasses, maybe to put them back on his face, or maybe in his pocket, he didn’t know yet - but then he heard a baby's cry.

Sirius’ head snapped up to the door at the end of the hallway, and stumbled over.

He saw Lily in the corner of his eye, but he wasn’t focusing on her.

He was focusing on Harry, standing upright in his crib and bawling up at Sirius, his tiny hands smacking at the corner of his crib.

Sirius immediately stalked over and picked him up, holding him close against his chest as he muttered useless reassurances in his ear while scanning him for any injuries.

There was one , a jagged cut above his left eyebrow, hopefully from just the rubble. Sirius shakily bent down and grabbed his wand from where he dropped it, and had to stop a sob from escaping him as he saw Lily’s lifeless eyes. Instead, Sirius grabbed his wand as he turned Harry’s head away from his mother, praying to whatever god was up there that he didn’t see that.

Sirius didn’t trust his non-verbal magic at the moment, so he muttered an insignificant healing spell as he stared into Harry’s eyes. The cut didn’t seem to be healing, so he tried again, this time with a spell usually used for healing stab wounds and other severe injuries. Still no change. He was about to try for a third time when a large crash, and immediately Sirius pointed his wand at the man standing in the doorway, only to realize it was his former groundskeeper, Hagrid.  
Sirius tried to dry his eyes with the small cloth that Hagrid gave him, but the tears kept coming. He held Harry tight, faintly hearing Hagrid talk aimlessly behind him. Him and Harry, crying, because James and Lily were gone. They had been so loved. Sirius thought he would fall apart under the weight of grief, anger, and desperation.  
He finally managed to ask, “Hagrid, who else knew about this place?”  
“Me an’ Dumbledore. Maybe Minnie knew, if Dumbledore brough’ her, but none of us woulda done this.”  
“No,” Sirius sighed. There was no one who would have. He had been so careful not to tell Remus, and only trusted Peter--  
Sirius stood up. “Hagrid, take Harry. Get him to Dumbledore. You can take my bike.”  
“Sirius, now wait jus’ a minute--”  
“I have to take care of something.”

-

Sirius was no longer crying, but he could still feel the tear tracks on his face.  
His grief had been overrun by anger now, particularly in the fact that Peter had betrayed them all.

He still didn’t know how Peter betrayed him, but there was one thing he did know. James and Lily were dead. And Peter would be too by the end of the night.

-

Sirius finally found him, desperately searching for his wand in the his home street that Sirius apparated to. People were now coming out of their homes, most likely why one man was angrily threatening another with (what was presumably) a stick.  
Sirius wasn’t paying attention to the muggles though.  
He was paying attention to the traitor in front of him.  
Peter found his wand, and Sirius immediately raised his, preparing for a duel. He knew he would win, Peter wasn’t the brightest when it came to duels.  
Peter turned around, wand raised in surrender. “How could you do it, Sirius?” he shouted back.  
Sirius’s lips curled back.  
“How could you betray James and Lily like that?”  
Sirius laughed. There was nothing else he could do. He had lost everything, and Peter went and turned this on him? Oh, it was so rich and unbelievable. But before he could curse Peter to a slow and painful death, an explosion rocked the street.  
Sirius was thrown backward violently. He could hear the resounding crack as his head hit the gritty pavement as his vision went black.  
He opened his eyes to see a severed finger laying in the rubble of the explosion , as well as Peter's wand.  
Someone took his wand from him. Someone else pinned his arms behind his back.  
Sirius didn’t even fight as they dragged him away. Part of it was the concussion, but the other part was guilt.  
It was him who told them to change the secret keeper days before their death. It was him who argued tirelessly that he’d be too predictable. It was him who thought that Peter would be a great idea, regardless that he was more withdrawn these past few months. And so, Sirius thought, it was him ultimately that caused their deaths.  
Sirius only tried to fight back when he saw Remus standing at the end of the street while they pulled him away for a second time, desperately trying to find a way to tell Remus that he didn’t do this, it was Peter! But all he could do was watch in horror as Remus shook his head with tears in his eyes, walking a few steps before apparating to Merlin knows where.  
Sirius was truly and utterly alone.

**Author's Note:**

> this is an old fic, but i didn't want to let it go to waste i guess?


End file.
